So close and yet so far!

Thursday morning, I was on the phone at 8:05am leaving a message for the caseworker assigned to our I-171H paperwork. She emailed me around 10am apologizing for the error and saying she would email me when it was resolved. 

I know it may have been unrealistic to expect the correction the same day, but I was still hoping... Friday morning, I was on the phone again, leaving another message asking Officer E to please give me a call. She did call me back to tell me that she was waiting for our files to be returned from the State Department. The USCIS (NBC) does not keep a copy of them once they are approved, only forwards them on for consular processing. The request had been made for them to be returned, but until then... she can't do anything. UGH!!! I asked if it was possible she might get them back Friday, she gently informed me that she has no control over the State Department, but that we were on her "high priority list."

Mark and I discussed it, we've decided that we are going to call our senator's office tomorrow to see if she can do anything. I hate being pushy, it is so not in my nature to be assertive. Conflict is something I avoid if at all possible. But, this is not about us. It is about the reason for our trip to Ukraine. It is about getting there for that specific reason. We need to get our dossier on it's way this week!!

Still waiting for the revision of my medical clearance, too. Hoping to pick that up Tuesday morning. It had been my plan to take the last documents up to the cities for their apostille on Tuesday. Seems unlikely that we will have our I-171H approval (hard copy) by then. But, I am praying for a miracle.

Other than that, the weekend was ok. I'm still not feeling too great so we kind of laid low. Mark got the garage cleaned out enough for me to put my car inside which is good since we had frost last night. Ran up to my parents' place yesterday, had dinner with them, and picked up Mark's skid loader. Today, we ran a couple of errands, missed church (not on purpose - we totally lost track of time), and took a nap. I tried a couple new recipes - Vegetable Barley Soup and Zucchini Coconut bars. Good fall food!